About 24 members of a suspected prostitution ring making money out of young Nigerian women have been arrested by Spanish and Finnish police, with the help of European law agencies.

According to Europol’s statement, “The victims, mainly vulnerable young Nigerian women, were recruited in Nigeria and trafficked to Spain via Italy.

“Once in Spain they were forced into prostitution, mostly in the cities of Benidorm and Malaga, but also Madrid, Barcelona, Soria and Gandia (Valencia).”

The police explained that the Spanish police arrested the gang members in several cities in the country but its leader was taken into custody in Helsinki, where “she was arrested by the police, thanks to effective international cooperation.”

Europol said that authorities had earlier alerted that two Nigerian women who were seeking asylum could be victims of human trafficking, prompting the probe.

It added, “Investigations revealed the existence of an organised crime group operating in Spain that had a big infrastructure in Nigeria, as well as links in Niger, Libya and Italy.

“The women were smuggled to Spain where they were told to seek international protection and asylum so that they could work for the criminal organisation without problems in the event of being identified by the police.”

The police added that “the group provided the victims with fraudulent documents to request asylum.”